Jake Paul doesn’t appear to be losing any sleep over his looming legal battle with Matchroom Boxing CEO Eddie Hearn.
Paul, the YouTuber-turned-boxer who has also entered the fight promotion game with his Most Valuable Promotions company, recently made a bold accusation toward Hearn after a pair of controversial decisions that included a common judge ringside in Glenn Feldman.
Hearn reportedly filed a lawsuit for defamation, claiming reputational damage from a recent interview in which Paul accused Hearn of paying off judges.
“Both legally and ethically there is a clear line separating opinion from defamatory lies,” Hearn’s attorney, Frank Salzano, told TMZ. “Jake Paul knows that, and he purposely crossed that line when he wrongly accused Matchroom Boxing and Eddie Hearn of fixing fights. … Nonetheless, he was still given an opportunity to retract his defamatory statements and refused to. Now he will face the legal consequences of his actions as Matchroom and Mr. Hearn will be seeking damages in well excess of $100 million given the value and goodwill attached to the Matchroom business and the harmful nature of Mr. Paul’s comments.”
Back in April, Paul worked together with Hearn to promote Katie Taylor vs. Amanda Serrano – one of the biggest women’s boxing matches in history. Paul promoted Serrano under MVP, and Hearn promoted Taylor through Matchroom Boxing.
In a very competitive contest, Taylor was awarded a split decision over Serrano. Judge Feldman, who had the widest scorecard of the three judges, scored the fight 97-93 for Taylor.
In August, Feldman was again criticized online as he favored Matchroom Boxing’s Anthony Joshua in a 115-113 scorecard to beat Oleksandr Usyk in their heavyweight championship rematch. The two other judges saw it for Usyk, awarding him a split decision win.
That prompted Paul to say “clearly (Feldman) is getting paid money by Matchroom Boxing. That’s a bold statement and an accusation that I don’t take lightly, but it’s just blatantly obvious.”
Those comments were viewed as a bridge too far for Hearn and his legal team.
Given another opportunity to take back his statements in a Wednesday interview with MMA Junkie, Paul passed and said that he’s entirely focused on his Oct. 29 boxing match with former UFC champion Anderson Silva and made it clear he’s not worried about the legal situation.
“I have this fight coming up Oct. 29, and my lawyers are dealing with that,” Paul said. “I don’t really even put any thought into it – don’t care. I get sued all the time for stupid sh*t. I’m 5-0 in lawsuits, and I’m 5-0 in the ring. So I got all the time in the world, all the money in the world, and I’m just focused on Oct. 29.”
